One of the keys to Wednesday night’s win, much like in Game 4 was we came out playing hard and won the first quarter, and never let up.  In fact, we won every quarter of the game, and that was the difference tonight.

We got back to our three-point shooting and our hard nose playing with good ball movement.    That’s what we do best.  It was great to watch.

Jameer was unbelievable Wednesday night.   He had 24 points in 30 minutes, including 4 of 5 from three-point range.  He penetrated and created good shots for our shooters.  He also stepped up and made big shots when we needed them to keep that lead above 6 or 10 points.

Dwight played huge for a second straight game with 21 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks.  It wasn’t so much the points, but his intensity and aggression was outstanding.    He also never got into foul trouble, finishing with only 2 fouls.

Barnes played great with lots of energy as usual.  He also nailed some big three’s… hitting 3 of 4.

Rashard played his best game of the series with 14 points.  Seven of the 14 came at the beginning of the fourth quarter, where he kept hitting shot after shot.  He showed he doesn’t have to hit threes all the time.  He had his low post game going great.  That’s what we need to do when Garnett is out of the game is post Lewis up.  He will make Boston pay.

Vince.  Vince.  Vince.  I will say he played better in Game 5.  But, still only had 8 points and shot just 3 of 10.  But, if he’s not going to make shots, I would rather keep his attempts down and make smart passes and protect the ball and that’s what he did.  He had 3 assists and no turnovers.

Our bench played great with a total of 37 points.

What more can you say about J.J. Redick.  He came in and immediately provided a spark, hitting 3 after 3.  He finished with 14 points in just 22 minutes.  He also had the best plus/minus of the game with a plus-18.

Brandon Bass provided us with great energy as well scoring eight points.

J-Will had perhaps his best game of the playoffs as far as protecting the ball, smart decisions, aggression, and scoring.  He looked like the old J-Will of the regular season.  He finished with 5 points, 5 rebounds, no turnovers, and three rebounds in just 18 minutes.

Pietrus also had his best game of the series, scoring eight points and playing smarter on both ends of the floor.

I did get a little concerned at the end of the half, with about 4 minutes left, we were up ten.  Van Gundy took Dwight, J.J., and Williams out of the game.  I didn’t think it was the right move because we were playing so well at the time, especially Redick and Williams. It ended up working out, but I just questioned the move when we did it.

Also, I’m still not sold on the Gortat and Howard combo on the floor at the same time.  We’ll see next game.

Well, it’s back to Boston.  We know what we have to do to get it done.  The Magic have the momentum, and Boston has to start thinking we have to win game 6, because we don’t want to come back to Orlando for Game 7.

Other notes…  both Davis and Daniels left with a concussion.  Wallace tweaked his back (The Celtics leading scorer with 21 points in Game 5.)  Perkins also got two technicals and was ejected… that’s seven for the playoffs.  If one of them isn’t rescinded that would be an automatic one game suspension for Game 6.  We’ll wait and see what the league says.

Posted by Chris S.

You can’t ask for more from Dwight Howard on the night (32 points, 16 rebounds, and 4 blocks).  He played like we know he can play.

Jameer also stepped up his game scoring 23 points.  He flat out dominated the game.  Even though he turned the ball over 6 times, he created a lot of open looks for our shooters.

Rashard played his best game of the series with 13 points.  He just played harder all around on both ends of the floor.  He even knocked down 2 of 3 three-pointers.

Barnes gave us a big spark at the beginning of the game with two big three-pointers, and once again played with a lot of enthusiasm and energy.

Redick played huge for us.  He made some big three’s at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth, and basically kept us in the game when it could have gotten ugly for us.  He has been our most consistent player in the series (he always does well against Boston.)

It was nice to see Bass get some playing time.  He played really hard with a lot of effort.  Van Gundy has got to play him in Game 5 as well.  It seemed to work better.

Not everyone played well!

Carter was atrocious.  3 points for the guy we brought in to be our go to guy in crunch time, in big games.  Come on Vince, you have to step it up.  We need you.  Not only was he 1 for 9 shooting, but he had 3 turnovers and four fouls.  He couldn’t stop anyone on the defensive end (not that he’s our defensive stopper, but  do something.)  I expect a much different Vince in Game 5.

Pietrus is killing us shooting the ball right now and his fouling.  He’s got to play smarter and know when to shoot the ball and when to hold back.

Gortat missed so many opportunities rebounding the basketball.  He played with no life.  He’s got to step up in Game 5, because we’re going to need him.

Now we have some confidence and we’re going back home.   We must get out to a quick start and keep the lead in game 5.  When we get down early, that’s when we’ve gotten in trouble, especially against this tough Boston team.  Who knows, just maybe Paul Pierce will cool off, and we’ll continue where we left off with the energy and effort from the win Monday night.

Posted by Chris S.

No one showed up to play Saturday night.  Now, we’re down o – 3.  How can a team with this much on the line, come out  and lay an egg like the Magic did in game 3?  I give a lot of credit to the way the Celtics are playing, but come on Orlando show us something.

Dwight Howard 7 points (3 of 10 shooting), including 1 of 4 from the line.  Really?

Rashard Lewis has played the disappearing act better than David Copperfield.  Saturday night’s line for Lewis looks like this… 4 points on 2 for 8 shooting, including 0 (that’s zero) for 4 from three-point range. Oh, did I mention he also had 4 turnovers and five fouls.  Where are you Rashard?  Once again, I will give some credit to Garnett and the Celtics defense, but come on.

Jameer did have 15 points, but missed nine of 15 shots.   He also had four turnovers and looked awful during the first quarter.

Vince wasn’t much better with 15 points and two turnovers.

Let’s face it.  This series isn’t over, but Boston is sure trying its hardest to end this.

The Magic can’t beat anyone shooting 37% from the field, 27% from three-point range, and have 17 turnovers.

Thank goodness we have at least one more game.  Let’s hope we get more effort and play better!

Posted by Chris S.

I can point out two instances where we just don’t even try.  Rondo steals away a rebound that Dwight Howard is just standing there watching in the first quarter.  Rondo once again gets a loose ball, because J-Wil doesn’t even go after it.

Where’s the effort Orlando?  What happened?  How can you expect these fans to cheer for you if you don’t come to play.  Let’s go!  Time is quickly running out.

Posted by Chris S.

Here’s my take, and I’ll be quick because we need to move on.   Yes, Vince’s two missed free throws were huge, but at least he was aggressive more this game.  Sure, he was rushing shots and even taking some of his infamous out-of-control drives to the basket.  But, he’s our playmaker remember.  We don’t have Turkoglu anymore (we sure could use him against Boston.)

As far as J.J.’s timeout mistake, the Magic wouldn’t have been in a position to even be in the game if it weren’t for the hard play of Redick all game.  Let’s face it, he plays well against Boston.  We need to keep playing him more because he moves the ball around well and quickly.  That’s what we need in this series.

This series is far from over, but Orlando needs to do two big things.  One, they need to find a way to get Rashard Lewis involved more.  Sure, the Celtics are staying home more around the perimeter and taking away our three-point opportunities.  Here’s a stat for you in Game 2… through three quarters, Lewis had played 29 minutes and only had 4 shots.  Give some credit to Garnett, but we’ve got to find a way to get him going early and often.

Van Gundy also has to find a way to break down that Celtic defense and get more movement in the offense.  When the ball stops that only gives an already great defense a bigger advantage.  We need to continue to go into Dwight in the paint, but also move the ball side to side and put up smart shots.

Particularly in Game 2, we were going to the rim, jumping at players and throwing up bad shots, hoping for a foul.  We can’t do that.  We have to be smarter on our shot selection.

One other note defensively this series.  So far, we’ve put Carter on Pierce, instead of Barnes and it’s killed us.  I understand the thinking behind it because Carter won’t have to chase around Ray Allen and use up so much energy on the defensive end.

Barnes is a defensive player and that’s why we got him.  However, maybe we should think about switching guys and putting Carter on Allen and Barnes on Pierce to try to slow down Pierce.  We might as well try it.

Dwight keep playing like you did in Game 2 and we will be alright.  Again, we just have to play smarter, get Rashard more involved, and keep those turnovers down.

Remember, we won both games in Boston this year and game seven last year to win the series.  I know everyone says Boston didn’t have Garnett, but it’s funny how the national media never says the Magic didn’t have Jameer.

If we can (we have to) win game 3, then we put the pressure on Boston.  Let’s go Magic, show us what you’re made of and what we’ve seen all year and the first eight games of the playoffs.

Posted by Chris S.

When you turn the ball over 18 times against the Celtics, lose the fast break points battle big time (20 to 6), and shoot only 23 percent from three-point range (our bread and butter), it’s going to be tough to win against any team.

In fact, it’s a testament to our team’s fight that we even had a chance to win in the end after being down by 20 at one point, and down all game.

After having a rough first half, Jameer ignited us in the second half, and finished with 20 points, but did have three turnovers.

Dwight and Rashard both had rough shooting night (5 for 20 combined).   But, Dwight played well defensively I thought with five blocks and 12 rebounds.

Even though Lewis’ shot wasn’t going down, he played really hard with a lot of effort, particularly at the defensive end (2 blocks, 3 steals, and 7 rebounds).

Vince gave us a spark at times, but was sporadic at other times in the game.

We got some good play from our bench.  I thought Gortat played very well, and J.J Redick got some good minutes and hit some big shots.  However, Pietrus just didn’t have it.  The threes just were falling for him.

We have to get game 2 on Tuesday night by tightening up our defense, and finding new ways offensively to attack their aggressive, physical defense!

Posted by Chris S.

Orlando and Boston will tip-off Sunday at 3:30 in Orlando for game one of the Eastern Conference Finals.  Get ready for a great series.  Despite Boston’s age, they’re playing very well right now, particularly Rondo.

However, we also have a pretty good point guard of our own.  Jameer Nelson has played lights out this post season.  Remember Magic fans, we didn’t have Jameer during last season’s playoffs until he got thrown into the lineup in the finals.

It will be key for Jameer to stay with Rondo and keep him from driving into the lane.  Also, we must make him turn the ball over.

Dwight will also be a key in this series.  In my opinion, he has more of a favorable match-up against the Celtics than he would have against Cleveland.  Don’t get me wrong, Perkins plays Howard about as good as anyone defensively in the league.  However, the ball must go through Dwight and play inside out.

Rashard will have a tough match-up against Garnett, because he plays so long, much like Odom.  But, the way Lewis is playing right now, he just needs to keep shooting, and make sure we keep Garnett off the boards.

Even, though we won 3 out of 4 in the regular season, the post season is a different animal.  Both Orlando and Boston are playing really well.

We must push the ball and keep the pace up against this team.  I don’t expect the blowout s that we’ve seen in the previous two series.  But, I do expect the Magic to keep up the outstanding play with great focus and confidence.

Posted by: Chris S.

On a side note, that song should be our playoff theme song.